Lewis



L M e h s W e e h S 4 No. 506,124. Patented Oct. 3,1893.

INVENTOH ATTUHNEYF.

WITNESSES:

JEZV.

A TTORNEYS.

PU HRH MW t 3 nu 9 r Q h v R Hui 8 n 0 S l T N w m L: s I ah m 3 w .n ts 0 N 4 O B d ,w M n 1 E 6 T t H a w S s P I Y W A E W L L M A R Z m H Ri. T G m w a E @W Mu w k I N K 1 m R u S e vi A k A N k 6 U w N m m U, M\vx N V W J I m \6 0 N d no .3 Q

SEARCH 4 Sheets-Sheet 3,

| I I IL INVENTOR min, a. M

Patented Oct. 3, 1893.

, LEWIS. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM W/TNESSES. @2401;

4 Sheets-Sheet 4. V H. A. LEWIS. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

No. 506,124. Patented Oct. 3, 1893.

W/T/VESSES: lNVENTOfi UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

HARRY A. LEWIS, OF NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF THREE- FIFTHSTO JOHN T. DYER, OF SAME PLACE.

EL'ECTRlC-RAI LWAY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,124, dated October3, 1893.

Application filed March 3, 1 893.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRY A. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Norristown, in the county of Montgomery and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in theElectric Propulsion of Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in thepropulsion of cars and other bodies by the employment of electricity asthe motive agent, and it has for its object among others to provide animproved and simplified arrangement of devices for this purpose,wherebyI attain very high speed with the expenditure of the minimumamount of power and at small cost. I provide a trolley-bar whichpresents a surface to the trolley wheel in such a manner and of such anature that said surface of contact shall be composed of alternatepieces of conducting material and of some suitable nonconductingmaterial or insulation, the trolley wheel being designed to travel overthe said bar which receives its electricity from some suitable sourceand from the uninsulated portions of which the trolley wheel receivesits current. From the trolley wheel or wheels, the current passesthrough spring connections to a wire or wires which are connected with aswitch, which is connected with coils which become magnets only onintroduction of a current of electricity from the switch,

and when they are charged these coils attract themselves towardstationary armatures arranged at intervals and thus motion is given tothe car. The switch is constructed so as to connect any one of thetrolley wheels with one or two of the coils to give the car a forward orbackward motion, or cause the same to be motionless by the placing ofthe switch in a neutral position. The motor may be employed either inthe open air or through continuous tubes. The coilsare supported uponand carried by the body of the car thus con- "stituting-the moving partsof the motor, and the armatures are stationary and entirely Serial No.464A91. (No model.)

separate from the car itself. The trolley-bar may be arranged above orbeneath the car as may be desired.

Other objects and advantages of the invenvention will hereinafter appearand the novel features thereof will be specifically defined by theappended claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated in theacconipanying drawings,which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form apart of thisspecification, and in which Figure 1 illustrates in side elevation myimproved motor car and track system. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fig.3 is acentral, vertical longitudinal section through the same. Fig. 4 isa horizontal longitudinal section through the line 4-4 of Fig. 3,looking downward. Fig. 5 is an end elevation. Fig. 6 is a diagrammaticview showing the system of wiring, and of the switch board, required forthe operation of the motor. Fig. 7 is a central, vertical longitudinalsection through the device as constructed for tube work. Fig. 8 is anend elevation of the form shown in Fig. 7, within the tube.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the severalviews.

The principle of my invention is capable of embodiment in a variety offorms and while I have chosen-to show what I at present consider thepreferable form it will be understood that I do not intend to restrictmyself to the details of construction herein disclosed; it may also beadapted for either tube or open air application and I have shown oneform for each of such uses in the present case.

Referring now to the details of the drawings by letter, A designates thetrolley-bar which is constructed and arranged to receive .a current ofelectricity from a dynamo (not shown) located at any convenient pointalong the line, or in any preferred position, and composed ofalternating conducting and noncondueting portions; and suitablesubstance or material may be employed for the different portions of thetrolley-bar, but for the non-conducting portions I prefer asbestus forthe reason that it is more durable and last-' ing. On referring to Fig.3 the non-conducting-portions of this bar will be found designated bythe letter a and the conducting portions by a. The trolley-bar isdesigned to be supported in any suitable manner; overhead for open airsystems, and beneath the 5 car for tube constructions, as seen in Figs.7

and 8.

B are the rails supported on the cross ties B, and G is a stringer ortimber arranged between the rails and supported upon the cross 10 tiesas seen in Fig. 5. Upon this stringer or timber are supported aplurality of stationary armatures b affixed thereto or held thereon inany suitable manner, being preferably of annealed iron and extended forsome little distance in either direction as seen in Fig. 4.

D is the car of any suitable construction except as hereinafterspecified, supported upon the wheels D running on the rails and carriedby the axles d as seen in the various views.

E, E and E are the trolley wheels or conductors held against andtraveling in contact with the trolley-bar; if the trolley-bar isarranged overhead of course the trolley wheels 2 5 will likewise bearranged above the car, but when the trolley-bar is located beneath thecar as in tube construction the trolley wheels will of necessity bearranged upon the under side of the car as seen in Figs. 7 and 8. As

their construction and operation are substantially the same in bothinstances a description thereof in the one will suffice for both. Theyare each resiliently supported in contact withthe trolley-bar by thespring arm 6,

5 and receive current by contact with the conducting portions of thetrolley bar. The spring arms are secured to the top or bottom of thecar, as the case may be, by suitable means as the bolts e and areinsulated by suitable ino.,sulation as shown at e. The spring arms arerestricted in their movements by the vertical bolts or rods F as seenbest in Fig. 1,the said bolts being insulated from the car at theirpoints of attachment thereto and provided at 5 their ends farthest fromthe carwith adjusting nuts f by which the pressure of the trolley wheelsagainst the trolley-bar may be regulated at will. Each of the springarms is con nected bya wire g, g and g respectively with a switch Glocated at anysuitable place upon the car, and from the said switch runwires h, h and 71 which are connected with the coils H in a manner whichwill soon be described. These coils become magnets only on introductionof a current of electricity from the switch, and when they are chargedthese coils attract themselves toward the stationary armatures b in amanner which will soon be made apparent. .The coils extend through thehottom of the car and are held suspended from the top thereof by therods I which arescrewthreaded as shown and these rods are provided withthe nuts 2' by which the height of the coils may be adjusted. The coresI of these coils are of soft iron and extend a short distance below thebottoms of the coils as V seen clearly in Fig. 3,'while at the top eachpair of cores is joined together by a metallic strip 1 the rod I passingthrough the center of the strip as seen in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 6 I have shown the manner of connecting the wires with theswitch and with the coils, and to this view special attention isdirected for an understanding of the mode of wiring. As above stated thecoil H is connected with the switch by a wire 71., the coil H isconnected with the switch by a Wire h, and the coil H by means of a wire71- The trolleywheel E is connected with the switch by a wire g, thewheel E by wire g and the wheel E by the wire g The trolley wheel E isfurther connected with the switch by a wire 9 the wheel E by anotherwire 9 and the wheel E by another wire 9 the two sets of wires beingprovided, the one for forward motion of the car and the other forbackward motion thereof. The coils of each pair are connected by a wireJ, J and J respectively, and each pair of coils is also connected withthe ground by a wirej,j and 7 respectively as seen in Fig. 6.

The switch G has three positions, producing a forward movement, abackward movement, and motionless. The switch as shown in theaccompanying drawings is set for the forward movement of the car, whichin this case is in the direction of the arrow or toward the left hand.For this forward movement of the car the course of the electric currentthrough the wiring and switch is as follows: The wheel E being incontact with the trolleybar, a current from the uninsulated orconducting portion thereof enters the wheel and passes down the springarm e and entering the wire 9 (the wire g being open) passes along thewire 9 to its connection with the switch, thence through the said switchto the wire h, thence along said wire to the coils H, and thence throughthe ground wire connection through the body of the car, magnetizing thecoils H which attract themselves toward the nearest armature b anddrawing the car forward with them. By this movement of the coils H andthe car the wheel E comes in the insulated portion of the trolleybar andthus loses its current and the wheel E coming in contact with anuninsulated portion of the trolley-bar receives current therefrom whichpasses down the spring arm, to the wire g (the wire 9 being open),thence along the said wire to the switch G, thence through the switch tothe wire h and along the said wire to the coils H, thence to the groundwire connection through the body of the car, thus magnetizing the coilsH which attract themselves toward the nearest armatures b, drawing thecar with them. This movement brings the wheel E on an insulated portionof the trolley-bar thus losing its current and the wheel E comes incontact with an uninsulated portion of the bar and receives currenttherefrom; the current now passes along the spring arm to the wire 9(the line 9 being open,) thence along said a wire 9 to the switch,through the switch to {the wire 72 and along the sai wire to the-..-:?coilsH'-, thence to the ground wire connection 4 through the bodyof the car, magnetizing the coils H? which attract themselves toward thenearest armat 'resb and drawing the car with them. This m tion bringsthe wheel E on an insulated pr rtion and the wheel E on anuninsulated-portion of the trolley-bar and the to before describedoperations and movements .are repeated. The wheels come in contact withand leave the uninsulated portions of the trolley-bar so rapidly as tobe almost imperceptible and the consequence is a rapid I 5 continuousforward motion of the car. To

reverse the motion of the car all that it is necessary to do is to movethe switch which is made in three} arts and pivoted at g from the wiresg, g and 9 onto the wires g ,g and 2o 9 thus sending the current fromthe wheel E to the coils H the current from the wheel E to the coils H,and the current from the wheel E to the coils H, thus giving the car abackward movement, that is reverse to the 2 5 direction in which it hasjust been described as moving, because in this case the nearestarmatures are always at the right hand of the coil that is charged. Whenthe motion of the car is to be stopped the switchis moved o ofi all thecontacts at the right.

i, Intube constructions such as is shown in Figs. 7 and 8 theconstruction and operation of parts are in all essentials the same asabove 7 described. As seen in Fig. 8 the trolley-bar 1 i located beneaththe car between the rails,

' and the armatures are carried by the timbers or stringers one arrangedupon each side of the trolley-bar. The trolley-wheels are arranged atthe bottom of the car but the con- 40 nections are the same and the modeof operation is in all respects similar to the form above set forth infull. T represents the tube within which the parts are arranged.

Modifications in detail may be resorted to without departing from thespirit of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages. Parts maybe used without the whole. Some of the parts as above described willoperate equally as well in connection with a modified 5o construction ofthe other parts.

What I claim as new is- 1. Th e combination wi th the trolley-bar withalternating conducting, and non-conducting surfaces, of a trolley-wheelmounted to move are in contact wit u said bar, vertically-disposed 5 5coils energized from said bar, and horizontally-disposed armaturesmounted to be engage by the coils, as set forth.

The combination with the bar having ternating conducting andnon-conducting 6o surfaces, of a plurality of trolley-wheels mounted totravel in contact with said bar and ca ried by adjustable resilientsupports,

coils electrically connected with the wheels and energized from saidbar, and horizon- 6 5 tally-disposed fixed armatures mountedtransversely to the direction of the travel and arranged to co-operatewith the coils to move the car, as set forth.

3. The combination with the trolley-bar and the trolley-wheel, of avertically-disposed adjustably-mounted coil electrically connected withthe wheel, horizontally-disposed armatures stationarily mounted forco-operation with the coil a support for the coil and a 7 5 switchwhereby the coil and wheel may be employed for movement of the car ineither direction, substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination with stationary, hori- 8o zontally-disposed armaturesmounted transversely to the direction of the travel, of a suspended coilhaving a core, and electrical connections including a resilientlysupported adjustable trolley-wheel between the coil and 8 5 a source ofelectricity, as and for the purposes specified.

5. The combination with a plurality of trolley-wheels and a like numberof sets of coils, of a s :itch, and connec ions and a trolleybar havingalternating active and inactive sections, whereby either one of-the setsof coils may be thrown into action before the others, as and for thepurposes specified.

6. The combination with the fixed horizon- 5 tally disposed armatnresmounted transversely to the direction of the travel,and the set ofcoils, of the cores for said coils, the strip connecting the cores, andthe adjustable rod for suspending the coils passed through said stripand provided with an adjusting nut, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

V HARRY A. LEWiS.

Witnesses:

LOUIS M. OHILDs,

D. FRED. CARVER.

